Theme maximalization through modifiers: A case of Mandarin verbal classifier bian

. Maximalization strategies and their syntactic representations are at the centre of a long debate (Filip & Rothstein 2005; Filip 2008; Martínez Vera 2021; a.o.). Semantically, events can be maximalized with respect to theme, path, degree, etc., thus featuring several types of maximalization. Syntactically, maximalization has been argued to be exerted by a verb or an argument of the verb. This research offers a new observation: elements in a modifier position can also introduce maxi-malization. In particular, I propose that Mandarin verbal classifier bian is a theme-maximalizing element situated in an adjunct of VP. I further provide a compositional analysis within the framework of neo-Davidsonian event semantics. Finally, I compare bian with another theme-maximaling element, diao , and identify two distinct levels of theme maximalization.

1. Introduction.Regarding eventualities expressed by verbs, an issue that has long been of interest concerns the presence of some terminal point (i.e., 'telos' in Garey 1957) in the semantic representation of certain classes of verbal expressions but not others.This yields one of the basic divisions among verb meanings: the telic/atelic distinction.In what sense can we consider events as complete, and how do natural languages represent such temporal delimitation of events?A general answer is that the events associated with some terminal point culminate when the terminal point is reached (Parsons 1990).Explorations continue to pursue a more specific and formal characterisation of telic events.Building on the parallel between the meanings of nominal and verbal expressions, Krifka (1989Krifka ( , 1992Krifka ( , 1998) ) introduces the mereological notion 'quantization' and proposes an object-event homomorphism.In brief, an incremental theme 1 with quantized reference gives rise to telicity, like three sandwiches in example (1), as tested by its compatibility with in-adverbials and incompatibility with for-adverbials. 2For simplicity, telic predicates and quantized predicates can be used interchangeably (Krifka 1992). 3  (1) Mary ate three sandwiches {in an hour/ * for an hour}.
However, an issue known as the quantization puzzle emerges with certain predicates which, despite lacking a well-defined terminal point, are interpreted as telic when paired with strictly incremental verbs (Filip 2008;Zucchi & White 2001).Consider example (2) with modified numerals and degree achievement verbs.In (2a), the nominal at least three sandwiches lacks an upper bound; when it composes with eat, interestingly, the VP ate at least three sandwiches is telic, as evidenced by its compatibility with in-adverbials.In (2b), the verb lengthen provides an open scale and hence is by default atelic.However, the VP is compatible with in-adverbials, suggesting that it is telic.
(2) a. Mary ate at least three sandwiches in an hour.b. Mary lengthened the rope in an hour.
The quantization puzzle motivates a recast of telicity in terms of maximalization on events (Filip & Rothstein 2005;Filip 2008;a.o.): Adopting event semantics with lattice structures (Link 1983(Link , 1987;;Bach 1986;Krifka 1992;a.o.), a maximalization operator on events (MAX E ) is proposed.Essentially, it takes a partially ordered set of events as its input and picks out the unique, largest event at a given situation, thereby yielding telicity.
Telicity via maximalization on events demonstrates explanatory power.It has been observed that several strategies of introducing event maximalization are available in different languages (Beavers 2011;Martínez Vera 2021;a.o.).Events can be measured with respect to not only themes, but also paths and degrees, as (3) illustrates.This can be neatly captured by the maximalizationbased account, according to which telic expressions denote maximal events with respect to a scale.The scale imposes a partial ordering on events based on the extent to which they possess a certain measurable property.In (3), themes, paths, and degrees give rise to maximalization in different dimensions by providing different types of partial ordering as the input of the maximalization operator, namely, the quantity of sandwiches, books, path segments, and the length of the rope.
Theme Mary ate at least three sandwiches {in/ * for} three minutes.

b.
Theme & Path The earthquake shook a book off the shelf {in/ * for} three minutes.c.Degree Mary lengthened the rope {in/ * for} three minutes.
Similarly important is to answer how the scale can be introduced syntactically.Although there have been debates on whether telicity is determined morphosyntactically (cf.Borer 2005a,b) or by the lexical semantics of verbs (Filip 2008), it is generally agreed that the locus of the maximalization operation is a verb or a verbal phrase, and that languages may parametrically differ in how to convey the ordering on events, for example, by a theme argument, a PP, or a verb itself (Zucchi & White 2001;Filip & Rothstein 2005;Filip 2008;Martínez Vera 2021;a.o.).This study offers a novel observation that, in addition to verbs and arguments, the semantics of elements inside an adjunct position in the verbal domain can also introduce maximalization, as illustrated by the verbal classifier bian in Mandarin Chinese.
The remainder of this paper is organised as follows.Section 2 provides a concise overview of the counting construction ⌜NUMERAL CLASSIFIER⌝ and verbal classifiers in Mandarin Chinese, with a focus on the verbal classifier bian and its role in maximalization.Section 3 elucidates the requirement imposed by bian on the theme argument of the verb.Next, a thorough analysis of the syntactic position and the nature of ⌜NUM bian⌝ is detailed in Section 4, followed by my proposal of a lexical entry for bian and the semantic composition in Section 5. Finally, Section 6 presents a comparison between the verbal classifier bian and the resultative morpheme diao which introduces maximalization over patient/theme according to Gu (2022), and brings a nuanced perspective to the understanding of theme maximalization in the sense that themes can be affected at more than one possible levels.
2. Background: Verbal classifiers and the maximalization effect of bian.Unlike in English where a numeral can directly take a noun to express the counting result, counting in Mandarin Chinese is conveyed through the combination of a numeral and a classifier, henceforth referred to as ⌜NUM CL⌝.In the domain of individuals, a classifier is required to mediate between a numeral and a noun to explicitly specify a counting unit, resulting in a sequence ⌜NUM CL N⌝.Such classifiers are termed nominal classifiers, like ge in (4a) which identifies the individual apple as the counting unit for three apples.Analogously, in the domain of events, a numeral cannot be placed after a verb on its own; a verbal classifier like bian is employed to provide a counting unit for events.For instance, in (4b), bian singles out a countable instance of the reading events.Here, ⌜NUM bian⌝ can be roughly conceived as a time-adverbial like three times in English.First, in the domain of events, there are at least two levels of counting, namely, events and occasions (Cusic 1981), and bian targets occasions.In English, the event/occasion distinction can be diagnosed through the scopal relation of time-adverbials (Cusic 1981;Andrews 1983;Cinque 1999).For example, in (5) with two co-occurring time-adverbials, twice scopes over three times.That is, all three sentences in (5) convey the occurrence of three knocks on two occasions.
(5) Three knocking events on two occasions a. John knocked three times on the door twice.b.John knocked on the door three times twice.c.Twice, John knocked on the door three times.
In Mandarin Chinese, this distinction manifests through different types of verbal classifiers (Deng 2013;Donazzan 2013;Zhang 2017;Ye & Guo 2023).A particular category of verbal classifiers like xia is applied to events (also referred to as the event-internal verbal classifiers in Zhang 2017), while the other category, represented by bian, targets occasions (also known as the event-external verbal classifiers). 4For example, when there are two verbal classifiers bian and xia co-occurring in a sentence, the target counted by bian can be subdivided into the target counted by xia, but not vice versa; compare (6a) with (6b).Since occasions are composed of events, (6) demonstrates that bian and xia are used for occasions and events, respectively.Intended: 'She pressed the buttons twice, and each time she gave the buttons three taps.' Second, the verbal classifier bian is grammaticalized out of the verb bian (Liu 1959).The verb bian originally means 'to spread all over', signifying maximalization over its theme; see (7).The maximalization effect is retained in the verbal classifier bian, as suggested by its compatibility with in-adverbials in (8a) and incompatibility with for-adverbials in (8b).Note that without numerals, bian itself can give rise to telicity.For instance, the predicate an-le bian anniu 'press-PERF CL occ button' is compatible with in-adverbials, as (9a) illustrates, but not with for-adverbials, as shown by (9b).To further illustrate the maximalization effects associated with bian, I will argue that semantically, bian requires the theme argument to induce an ordering on events; syntactically, ⌜NUM bian⌝ is a VP-modifier, through which bian imposes the maximalization requirement on the theme argument.
3. Observation: Requirements of bian on the theme argument.In Mandarin, the theme argument of a verb can be encoded by a bare noun in the object position.A bare noun theme generally does not specify number or definiteness.For example, in a simple sentence containing only a subject, a verb, and an object, such as (10a), the bare noun theme anniu 'button' can be interpreted as singular indefinite, plural indefinite, singular definite, or plural definite.Hence, the sentence in (10a) has four possible interpretations.Compared to the baseline sentence, a sentence with ⌜NUM bian⌝ like (10b) has only one interpretation: There were two occasions consisting of button-pressing events conducted by 'I', such that the pressing involved all of the buttons.anniu.button #'I pressed a button twice.' #'I pressed some buttons twice.' #'I pressed the button twice.' 'I pressed all of the buttons twice.' Intuitively, with ⌜NUM bian⌝, the theme argument of the verb is obligatorily interpreted as plural, definite and maximalized.In what follows, I will tease apart such requirements of bian and provide evidence for each of them.

MAXIMALIZATION REQUIREMENT.
The first requirement of bian on the theme argument is that the theme has to be maximalized.As shown by ( 11), (10b) cannot be followed by an additive clause.That is, the theme of the bian-sentence exhibits anti-additivity.an.) press 'I pressed all of the buttons twice, #and there is still a button that is not pressed.'3.2.SUBPART REQUIREMENT.The second requirement of bian is that the theme must have identifiable subparts with respect to the corresponding events.Evidence for the subpart requirement comes from the compatibility of bian with a plural definite theme like zhexie anniu 'these buttons' and zhe san ge anniu 'these three buttons', as well as the infelicity of a singular definite theme such as zhe yi ge anniu 'this button' in the bian-sentence; see (12).What leads to this contrast is that themes like 'these buttons' and 'these three buttons' inherently have subparts with respect to a pressing event, whereas themes like 'this button' typically lack identifiable subparts with respect to a pressing event.Button-pressing events generally do not mean to press any subparts of a button.As such, in most contexts, a single button is considered lacking identifiable subparts with respect to a pressing event.button 'I pressed {these buttons / these three buttons / #this button} twice.'Note that subparts may vary in different contexts, but they must be identifiable with respect to the corresponding event.By manipulating the context, it is possible to make subparts of a single button -for instance, every segment of its surface -to be identifiable with respect to a particular kind of pressing event.Imagine a scenario where a button fails to function, and someone attempts to activate it by pressing from every possible angle.In such contexts, using ⌜NUM bian⌝ with a singular definite theme becomes acceptable, as shown by ( 13).Here, every segment of this single button can be viewed as identifiable subparts with respect to the pressing event.CL occ 'I pressed every part of this button once.' It is also worth mentioning that some singular nouns inherently have identifiable subparts, which makes them compatible with bian.For example, in (4b), Jane Eyre (the book) is a singular theme argument, but it is compatible with bian, given that a book is composed of identifiable subparts like chapters or paragraphs with respect to a reading event.
3.3.DEFINITENESS REQUIREMENT.The third requirement is that the theme argument should be definite.As we can see from ( 12), restated here as (14a), bian allows for definite theme arguments like zhexie anniu 'these buttons' and zhe san ge anniu 'these three buttons'.However, it rejects indefinite theme arguments such as yixie anniu 'some buttons' and san ge anniu 'three buttons'; see (14b).In Section 5, I will discuss the relation between the definiteness requirement and the maximalization requirement in detail.So far, I have demonstrated that bian requires the theme argument of the verb to be maximal, to have identifiable subparts, and to be definite.To derive ⌜NUM bian⌝ compositionally, let me first dissect the syntax of ⌜NUM bian⌝.Specifically, we will look at the syntactic nature and the position of ⌜NUM bian⌝.
4.1.SYNTACTIC NATURE.Regarding the syntactic nature of ⌜NUM bian⌝, I argue that ⌜NUM bian⌝ neither constitutes a part of the object nor stands as an argument of the verb.Moreover, it is not a manifestation of a specifier-head pair of a functional projection.Rather, ⌜NUM bian⌝ serves as an adjunct in the verbal domain.
4.1.1.⌜NUM bian⌝ IS NOT PART OF THE OBJECT.The first thing to clarify is that although ⌜NUM bian⌝ precedes the object linearly, as observed in (4), it does not form a constituent with the object, as supported by the failure of de-insertion.In Chinese descriptive grammar, de is viewed as a marker of nominal modification, linking a modifier to the head it modifies (Chao 1968).Unlike ⌜NUM CL⌝ formed with a nominal classifier in (15a) which allows de-insertion, ⌜NUM CL⌝ formed with a verbal classifier forbids it (Huang 2008), as (15b) illustrates.This shows that ⌜NUM bian⌝ is not in a modification relation with the object structurally.Second, ⌜NUM bian⌝ and indefinite objects do not behave alike in their scoping relation with respect to intentional verbs.Specifically, ⌜NUM bian⌝ lacks a de re reading, which indicates its adjunct status (Landman 2004(Landman , 2006)). 5An indefinite object, for example, yi ge Beijing guniang 'a girl from Beijing' in (17a), can take either the narrow scope or the wide scope with respect to the intensional verb xiang 'want'.By contrast, yi bian 'one time' in (17b) can only be interpreted within the scope of xiang 'want'.want > 1 'There is a girl from Beijing who he wants to marry.' 1 > want 5 Landman (2004Landman ( , 2006) ) uses the lack of a de re reading as a test for the adjunct status of English time-adverbials.
The exceptional scope of indefinites can be accounted for through several approaches, such as quantifier raising and choice functions.Regardless of the chosen theoretical framework, it is important to acknowledge the distinction between ⌜NUM bian⌝ and regular indefinite objects.Zhang's (2017) postulation that the numeral and bian are tied in a Spec-Head relation relies on some ad hoc assumptions.First, aside from subject-raising, Zhang (2017) hypothesises object-raising to the specifier of XP, which is driven by information structural reasons.However, whether ⌜NUM bian⌝ is present or not, the information status of the object seems to remain the same.Second, she assumes a remnant vP-movement that strictly follows object-raising, but the motivation and the landing site for this movement are yet to be spelled out.Furthermore, it appears that there is no more independent evidence for bian to occupy a position higher than the specifier of vP.In fact, I will show in Section 4.2 that ⌜NUM bian⌝ cannot be higher than the subject position.
Zhang (2017) also lists some non-adjunct properties of ⌜NUM CL occ ⌝ to support her analysis, yet the evidence is not conclusive.The first property she mentions is that ⌜NUM CL occ ⌝ can occur after a verb, while typical adverbs like jingchang 'often' cannot.However, the presence of postverbal adjuncts in Mandarin seems to be overlooked.For example, zai zhuo shang 'on the table' in (19a) is a locative adverbial occupying a postverbal position; the locative here is not part of the main verb, as (19b)  I conclude that ⌜NUM bian⌝ is an adjunct, rather than a part of the object, an argument, or a Spec-Head combination of a functional projection.In the following, I will show that ⌜NUM bian⌝ is an adjunct of VP.

SYNTACTIC POSITION.
Establishing that ⌜NUM bian⌝ is an adjunct in the verbal domain (Section 4.1), we now take a further look at its syntactic position.There are three possibilities, namely, the adjunct of vP, VP, or V, as sketched in ( 21).In this subsection, I will detail the findings from several diagnostic tests which serve to identify ⌜NUM bian⌝ as an adjunct of VP.
Possibility 1 Possibility 2 Possibility 3 4.2.1.⌜NUM bian⌝ IS NOT AN ADJUNCT OF vP.⌜NUM bian⌝ cannot be generated in a position higher than the subject position, as suggested by its interaction with unaccusative subjects.A general assumption of unaccusative verbs is that they lack an external argument -the surface subject of an unaccusative verb is a theme or a patient that originates in the object position (Perlmutter 1978;Burzio 1986;a.o.).Now, recall from Section 3 that bian requires the theme argument to be maximal, to have identifiable subparts, and to be definite.Based on such requirements, I assume that structurally, the target of bian should be situated within the scope of ⌜NUM bian⌝.
Yet, for unaccusatives with a subject that meets the requirements of bian, the sentence is still ungrammatical.For example, in ( 22), the main verb bing 'fall ill' is unaccusative, and the theme women 'we' is definite, maximal, and has identifiable subparts with regard to the event of falling ill, but the sentence is still degraded.This demonstrates that the subject must be outside the scope of ⌜NUM bian⌝, namely, the subject position is not c-commanded by ⌜NUM bian⌝.Further evidence is provided by the scoping relation between ⌜NUM bian⌝ and subject-oriented adverbs such as shabulaji-de 'stupidly', as illustrated in (23).In the presence of a subject-oriented adverb, san bian 'three times' takes the narrow scope, yielding only one interpretation of the sentence, i.e., the agent was stupid for conducting button-pressing events over three occasions.anniu.button 'It was stupid of him to press all of the buttons three times.'stupidly > 3 #'There were three times, and for each time, it was stupid of him to press the buttons.' * 3 > stupidly Considering that ⌜NUM bian⌝ is an adjunct, and given that adjuncts typically reside in the outermost layer of a given projection, it follows that ⌜NUM bian⌝ cannot serve as the adjunct of vP, nor can it occupy a position higher than v, contrary to Zhang's (2017) hypothesis that occasioncounting verbal classifiers are located above v. 4.2.2.⌜NUM bian⌝ IS NOT AN ADJUNCT OF V.As described in Section 3, ⌜NUM bian⌝ can occur in a sentence if the theme of the verb is maximal, definite, and has identifiable subparts with respect to the event denoted by the verb.Given such requirements, the theme argument should be located within the c-command domain of ⌜NUM bian⌝.Since the theme argument is typically generated in the complement of V, ⌜NUM bian⌝ should c-command the complement of V, which means that it should not be lower than V'.
Furthermore, ⌜NUM bian⌝ unequivocally scopes over object-oriented adverbials.For example, the sentence in (24) has only one reading, namely, the wide scope reading of san bian 'three times', expressing that the event of transporting stones from the larger ones to the smaller ones occurred across three distinct occasions.Conversely, the narrow scope reading of san bian 'three times' is not available, which suggests that the stones were first organised into three piles (large, medium, small) and then each pile of stones was moved separately.In this way, we can see that ⌜NUM bian⌝ must be structurally higher than the object position, and hence cannot be an adjunct of V. shitou.stone 'There were three times in which they carried stones, each time starting with the larger ones and progressing to the smaller ones.' 3 > from large to small #'They carried stones in a descending order of size, across three distinct occasions: the first time, the large stones; the second time, the medium-sized stones; and the third time, the small stones.' * from large to small > 3 4.2.3.SUMMARY: ⌜NUM bian⌝ IS AN ADJUNCT OF VP.Among the three potential positions for ⌜NUM bian⌝ introduced at the start of this subsection, the possibilities of being an adjunct of vP (Section 4.2.1) or an adjunct of V (Section 4.2.2) have been eliminated.This leaves only one viable option: ⌜NUM bian⌝ must be an adjunct of VP, as illustrated by (25) based on the data in (10b).Specifically, I follow Huang, Li & Li's (2009) analysis and treat the perfective marker -le as an affix at the AspP head.Then, the verb moves from V through v, eventually landing in Asp.A simple verb movement, coupled with standard subject-raising, derives the desirable linear order.5. bian is a maximalizing element inside a modifier.Turning now to the semantics of ⌜V NUM bian⌝, I will first lay out the theoretical background and introduce my assumptions on the semantics of events, verbs, and verbal classifiers.Next, I will propose a lexical entry for bian and derive the three requirements on theme.Subsequently, I will give a compositional analysis and argue that bian and ⌜NUM bian⌝ are intersective modifiers rather than quantifiers.5.1.BACKGROUND ASSUMPTIONS.Regarding the denotation of verbs, I adopt neo-Davidsonian event semantics (Parsons 1990;Carlson 1984;a.o.) and take verbs as one-place predicates of events.Verbs are combined with the thematic arguments via predicate modification, with all arguments introduced by the thematic role heads.Following the general assumption that a verb denotes a set of events (Parsons 1990;Krifka 1992;a.o.), and Krifka's (1989) idea that there is a semi-lattice structure in the domain of events, I assume that a verb denotes a structured set of events which may contain atomic events (e 1 ) and complex events (e 1 ⊕ e 2 ), as represented by (26).Regarding the denotation of verbal classifiers, I put forth, following Ye & Guo (2023), that an event-counting verbal classifier denotes a set of events, whereas an occasion-counting verbal classifier denotes a set of groups of events, as (27) illustrates.Occasions are characterised as groups of events with the group forming operator ↑ (Link 1984;Landman 1989a,b).A group of events is an atom that contains at least one atomic event or one complex event.In particular, I propose that the verbal classifier bian denotes a set of groups of events, the theme of which is the maximal one, as illustrated in (28). 7The three requirements of bian eventually boil down to theme maximalization.The maximalization requirement demands that every part of the theme is involved in a subevent of the corresponding event.The subpart requirement can be viewed as an existential presupposition of the maximalization requirement, given that if every part of the theme is a theme of a subevent, then it must be true that the theme has identifiable subparts with respect to the corresponding event.The definite requirement also follows from the maximalization requirement, since the theme is the unique, maximal one in the context that satisfies the requirements, i.e., the sum of all subparts.Integrating the lexical entry for bian with the syntactic structure proposed in Section 4, the semantic composition of the sentence in (10b) can be outlined as (29).The verb initially merges with the theme (θP), and then combines with the group forming operator ↑, yielding a set of groups of button-pressing events.On the other hand, the numeral 'two' and the verbal classifier bian are combined via predicate modification to form a Quantity Phrase (QuanP, cf.Borer 2005a).QuanP modifies V', resulting in a set of groups of buttonpressing events whose theme is the maximal one.Here, I analyse bian, as well as ⌜NUM bian⌝, as intersective modifiers (cf.Landman 2000Landman , 2004)).This is supported by two pieces of evidence.
First, there is no observation of quantifier raising of ⌜NUM bian⌝.In contrast to indefinite objects like yi ben shu 'a book' in (30a) which can scope over the universal subject suoyou ren 'everyone', ⌜NUM bian⌝ cannot be raised as a quantifier, and it can only get the narrow scope reading with respect to the universal subject, as in (30b).( 30 anniu.button 'Everyone pressed all of the buttons once.' ∀ > 1 #'There is a time when everyone pressed all of the buttons.' #1 > ∀ Second, in combination with other plurals, ⌜NUM bian⌝ has a scopeless, cumulative reading.For example, the sentence in ( 31) is considered true in a scenario where John pressed all of the buttons once and Mary pressed all of the buttons three times.anniu.button 'For all of the buttons, there is a total of four times of pressing, with two people as agents.' To encapsulate, ⌜NUM bian⌝ is an intersective modifier rather than a quantifier.It is worth mentioning that although ⌜NUM bian⌝ is not a quantifier, the group forming operator ↑ associated with it can be a scope taker.This is the reason why ⌜NUM bian⌝ is observed to scope below the subject ( 23) and above the object (24), as shown in Section 4.
6. Comparison with diao.All in all, bian is a verbal classifier inside an adjunct of VP that requires the theme to be maximal.In the end, I will compare bian with the resultative morpheme diao which, according to Gu (2022), exhibits theme maximalization as well.
A diagnostic test for theme maximalization that applies to both diao and bian is anti-additivity.For example, neither a sentence with diao nor a sentence with bian can be followed by an additive clause, as (32) demonstrates.
(32) a. ta he he-diao-le drink-CULM-PERF zhuo-shang-de CL 'He drank from all of the beverages on the table once, #and there was one still left behind.' However, theme maximalization of diao and that of bian actually target two distinct levels.This can be seen from their difference in completion entailment, as shown by (33).The sentence with diao requires the theme to be affected entirely, which conflicts with a clause that delivers an unfinished meaning, as in (33a).Contrastively, the sentence with bian does not necessarily demand completion -in fact, (33b) can express that the agent took a couple of sips from each of the beverages on the drink-TERM 'He drank from all of the beverages on the table once, but he did not finish all of them.' To capture the contrast between bian and diao in (33), I propose that there are two distinct levels where the theme can be affected.Specifically, diao involves every part of the theme, and requires each subevent to be complete.That is to say, the theme is affected entirely, as shown by (34a).Therefore, the sentence with diao in (33a) cannot be followed by a clause that indicates incompleteness of subevents.By contrast, although bian also involves every part of the theme, it does not require each subevent to be complete, as (34b) illustrates.This is why the sentence with bian in (33b) is compatible with a clause that indicates incompleteness of subevents.
(34) a. diao: two complete drinking events, two beverages b. bian: two drinking events, two beverages In other words, both the sentence with diao and the sentence with bian involve every part of the theme (i.e., two beverages).The difference lies in the completeness of subevents -diao requires each drinking to be complete, namely, all of the beverages must have been consumed, while bian does not have such a requirement.As far as I can see, Gu's (2022) analysis of diao only captures theme maximalization, but cannot guarantee the completeness of each subevent.

Conclusion.
This paper presents a thorough investigation of the theme maximalization effects exerted by the verbal classifier bian in Mandarin Chinese.I show that an element from a modifier in an adjunct position can impose maximalization-related requirements on the theme of the verb, and propose a lexical entry for bian which can account for all of the observed requirements.The comparison between two theme-maximalizing elements in Mandarin, viz.bian and diao, helps to understand theme maximalization at two distinct levels: the involvement of every part of the theme, and the completion of every subevent.
Jane Eyre three times.'Before delving into the maximalization effects, let me provide two pieces of background information regarding the verbal classifier bian.

'
She pressed the buttons twice, and each time she gave the buttons three taps.' (two button-pressing occasions, each consisting of three button-pressing events) stricken bodies are everywhere in the field.' She has been pressing the button once for three minutes.' She has been pressing the buttons once for three minutes.' {these buttons / these three buttons} twice.'I pressed {some buttons / three buttons} twice.' I pressed all of the buttons three times.'4.1.2.⌜NUM bian⌝ IS NOT AN ARGUMENT OF THE VERB.Two key pieces of evidence have been presented inGuo & Ye (2023), as summarised below with slight modifications.First, ⌜NUM bian⌝ can compose with predicates whose argument slots are already saturated.In examples with ditransitive verbs like (16), ⌜NUM bian⌝ appears alongside the direct object, the indirect object, and the subject, thereby confirming that ⌜NUM bian⌝ does not occupy any argument position.me the rehearsal procedure twice.' to marry a girl from Beijing.' 6 of us have fallen ill three times.' a. Occasion-counting verbal classifiers {↑ (e 1 ), ↑ (e 2 ), ↑ (e 1 ⊕ e 2 ), ↑ (e 1 )⊕ ↑ (e 2 ), . ..} b.Event-counting verbal classifiers {e 1 , e 2 , e 1 ⊕ e 2 , . ..} 5.2.LEXICAL ENTRY FOR bian.

table -
CL'He drank up the beverages on the table, #and there was one still left behind.' table, but he did not finish all of them.He drank up the beverages on the table, #but he did not finish all of them.'